Wärtsilä, a leading global supplier of flexible and efficient power plant solutions, has been contracted to supply the equipment for a gas engine based expansion to the McArthur River zinc mine power plant in Australia’s Northern Territory.
The project is being undertaken by EDL NGD (NT) Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of the international energy company, Energy Developments Ltd (EDL), who will sell the electricity generated by the plant to McArthur River Mining Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of Xstrata plc, the international mining resources company.
Wärtsilä’s scope of supply includes six Wärtsilä 34SG engines running on natural gas and the related engineering services. The total combined output of the engines will be 53MW. Delivery is scheduled to be completed by early 2013, and the power plant is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2013.
"Wärtsilä has an established track record of delivering high quality, and EDL was impressed by Wärtsilä’s proposal to supply an efficient power plant solution on a fast-track basis. This was an important consideration in choosing Wärtsilä as our engine supplier for this project," says Mr Shane McLaughlin, EDL Executive General Manager, Project Delivery.
"In meeting the plant’s operational requirements of a flexible and efficient supply with a high step load capacity, we have also demonstrated our ability to meet the customer’s needs for a rapid delivery," commented Suraj Narayan, General Manager, Wärtsilä Power Plants in Australia and Oceania. "Furthermore, apart from their minimal environmental impact, the Wärtsilä gas fired generating sets have a low total lifecycle cost, which is an increasingly important aspect of modern power plant operations."
Wärtsilä has a strong presence in Australia and Oceania having supplied more than 600MW of power generation capacity to the region. In Australia, Wärtsilä has offices in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth. The company also has extensive workshop facilities in major locations.